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She reached for the line. “What should I do? Pull on it?”
    â€œToo late now. You lost him. You scared him away with that word pull. ” He sucked air through his teeth, as if the word pained him. “Use a light touch, honey. Jigging works better.” He turned back to his cooking, clucking his tongue in mock disgust. “Remember that when he gives you another chance.”
    In the end they had to make do with his catch, which made the freshest-tasting fish dinner Raina had ever eaten. She took off her snow pants and used them for a chair cushion, and she and Gideon played cards and listened to country music on the radio. Gideon got a little tight and played the ham, crooning along with every tune while he slapped his cards on the folding table with a flourish and beat her three hands of whist out of five.
    Then he pulled her onto his lap and started in with some playful kissing. Together they quickly heated up the icehouse. Before she knew what was happening she was straddling him, and he was holding her hips steady while he rocked himself in her cradle, pushed her jacket aside, opened her shirt and suckled her breast until she moaned with exquisite pleasure.
    â€œPretty as an angel,” he muttered, then nuzzled her hair aside from her ear and whispered, “but are you willing to give the devil his due?”
    â€œWhat devil?”
    â€œYou’re sittin’ on his lap, honey.”
    â€œI doubt that.” She combed his long, thick hair back from his temples with her fingers. His hair was as black and as beautiful as a raven’s wing. “I’ll buy ‘sinner,’ but not ‘devil.’”
    â€œSold,” he said softly as he unsnapped her jeans. “To the lady with the shiny halo.”
    â€œNo, I’m not…no.” Her zipper was halfway down before she stayed his hand with hers. But he turned her hand and pressed it against his own zipper and let her feel the hard bulge straining beneath it.
    â€œYou wanna pull on something, pull on my belt buckle, okay?” He slipped his hand inside her jeans, and the zipper gave the rest of the way. He tucked his thumb over the top ofher panties. “Do this to me,” he entreated, his breath warm against her neck.
    â€œGideon, we can’t. Not now.” She tipped her head back and gulped cool air. The plywood ceiling seemed so close. “Not…here.”
    â€œNot here and now?” His hand stirred at her waist. His low voice sounded somehow menacing. “Or not you and me?”
    She slid her hand away from his lap and put her arms over his shoulders. Her pulse was racing so wildly, she wasn’t sure she could achieve her indulgent, goddess-of-good-sense smile, but she gave it a shot.
    â€œHave you drunk enough to make you forget that the floor is made of ice here?”
    â€œNo.” The heated look he gave her was far from contrite. “I’m not drunk.”
    â€œI didn’t say you were.” She wanted him to kiss her. Just kiss her, and maybe… “Gideon, don’t look at me like that. It scares me.”
    â€œI want to make love to you.” He tightened his hand at her waist, and the heat in his eyes made her mouth go dry. “Why would that scare you?”
    â€œIf you could see the look in your eyes…”
    â€œI’m hungry for you, Raina.”
    â€œIt’s more than that.”
    There was a predatory gleam in his eyes, and she suspected the whiskey was responsible for that. She liked having control, and this man threatened to take that from her. He made her scare herself. He made her want to let go, just for a moment. And something told her that a moment would be all it would take. He belonged to the wilderness and the wildlife. And Raina’s world was much too tame for him.
    â€œI could make it much more.” He nuzzled the promise intothe valley between her breasts and made her catch her breath. “I could make